Obama calls US "one of largest Muslim countries"

Speaking to Canal+ television in Washington before setting off on a tour of the Middle East and Europe, Obama said he would use a planned speech in Cairo to set out a new framework for American relations in the region.

"I think what we need is to create a better dialogue. So that the Muslim world understands better how the U.S., but how effectively the West, thinks about many of these difficult issues: terrorism, like democracy," he was quoted by AFP as saying.

While admitting that "expectations need to be somehow modest," Obama said he will work with allies on the crisis in Afghanistan, the standoff with Iran and "the prospects of peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians."

"And one of the points I want to make is -- if you take the number of Muslim Americans -- we would be one of the largest Muslim countries of the world. There has got to be a better dialogue and understanding."

Estimates of the number of Muslims in the United States, where there is no question about religion on census forms, vary widely.

A 2007 study by the respected Pew Research Center estimated that Muslims make up 0.6 percent of the U.S. adult population, or approximately 1.4 million Muslims 18 years old or older.

MIDEAST TRIP

The highlight of Obama's Middle East trip will be a much-anticipated address to the Muslim world from Cairo, but Obama will also attempt to prod moribund regional peacemaking back to life.

He is first due in Saudi Arabia for talks with King Abdullah, who has been trying to re-launch a 2002 Arab-backed Middle East initiative, and then heads Thursday to Egypt where he will meet President Hosni Mubarak.

Obama has said he will touch on the Middle East peace process in his Cairo University speech -- a more general attempt to build bridges with Islam -- but will not unveil a detailed plan.

On the eve of his trip, al Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri told Egyptians to shun Obama, saying his visit was at the invitation of the "torturers of Egypt" and the "slaves of America."

Egyptian democracy campaigners have criticized the choice of Cairo for such a major speech, saying Obama is rewarding an authoritarian government with a poor human rights record.

However, Obama is seen as uniquely positioned among U.S. leaders to make inroads in the Islamic world.

Obama has repeatedly backed a two-state solution to the conflict, despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reluctance to embrace such a position and his defiant stance on Jewish settlements.

Obama, who last week met Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, is expected to lobby Saudi Arabia and Egypt for gestures which would widen Netanyahu’s room for political maneuver.

The son of an African Muslim father, the president spent part of his childhood in majority-Muslim Indonesia. His middle name Hussein, which sometimes was seen as a liability on the campaign trail, doubtless will be viewed more charitably in many venues during his Middle East travels.